......hope

The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope. Romans 15:12

Earlier this year, the Mega Millions lottery reached a jackpot of over a billion dollars as people everywhere lined up for tickets. Jonathan Cohen is a lottery historian - yes, there is such a thing - and he told reporters the reason is because people need hope. In a time of inflation and economic stress, the fantasy of becoming super rich is driving more than half of American adults to enter a lottery.

The chance of winning the lottery is one in hundreds of millions. The possibility of finding real hope in Christ is one hundred percent. There is total hope in Him—hope for a confident life and hope for a continual future. It wasn’t random chance but divine design that sent us a Baby whose every heartbeat spells hope.

Without the birth of Christ, we wouldn’t have salvation from sin and the certainty of eternity in heaven with our Heavenly Father. Thank God for the hope Christmas brings, for there’s not a chance of Jesus ever failing!

It’s almost too limiting to say that we “celebrate”… Christmas. We stare dumbstruck, lost in wonder, love, and praise… God being born into our world.

- timothy keller